Bpheaim k



@Errea EPHRAIM K. BULLOOK, OF DETROIT, MICH., ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS HIS RIGHT TO WILLIAM J. MILLER AND JAMES M. CURTISS, OF SAMEI PLACE.

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. ia, dated February 13, 1877; application filed December 16, 1876.

.To all whom fit may concern:

the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l ot' the drawings is a representation of a side view of my hoop skirt panier, and Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of the looping device.

This invention relates to hoopskirts; and it consists in certain improvements in the construction thereof, as will bevhereinai'ter more fully set forth.

In the annexed drawings, A designates the waistband of my improved skirt, from which waistband are suspended a bustle, B, and a trail-support, C, by means of suspending'- strips D. Said suspending-strips extend from said waistband A to the bottom ot' said trailsupport C, uniting the above-mentioned parts, so as to form a single article, which has a slender shape, slightly curving outward at the rear near the top and at the bottom, as shown. The front of said skirt is made of flexible material, unstiftened.

The bustle B and trail-support C, above described, have between them an open space,

. C', across which extends the middle parts D/ ot' said suspending-strips D. Said parts D of said strips D are each provided with a series of perforations or eyes,E, and hooks F, where by said trail-support O may be adjusted up toward or down from said bustle B, thus making the said skirt longer or shorter, as desired. Fig. 2 shows in sectional detail one each ot' said hooks and eyes engaged so as to adjust the said skirt, also a part of one of said supportingstrips D.

The iiexible front of said skirt is supported by means of similar supporting-strips G G,

constructed mainly of sections ot' metal hoops b and c, which are attached to said supportingstrips D. On the inside of said bustle and trail-support, at each side thereof, are flaps, which are laced together in the middle, so as to cause the rear part of said skirt to set outward properly from the person of' the wearer.

By the construction above described, the

skirt is made adjustable without at any time separating any ot the parts of which it is composed.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a hoop-skirt, the. combination of the suspended strips D, united at top and bottom by the independent sets of hoops b c, leaving an open central space between them to act as a iiexible hinge, with the hooks and eyes arranged at the middle parts of said strips, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a hoopskirt, the combination ot1 the suspended Strips D, united at top and bottom by the independent sets of hoops b c, with the hooks and eyes arranged at the middle parts of said strips, and the suspended strips G, having hooks and eyes, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

EPHRAIM K. BULLOGK.

Witnesses:

J. F. AcxER, Jr., J. R. BROWN. 

